Five time World medallist Kirill Denisov is an expert at combining movement and gripping.

Denisov is a left handed fighter. When up against right handers, he uses a circular motion in his gripping patterns.

Primarily, he aims to fight for control of the lapel, before looking to dominate the sle...

When fighting right handed opponents who want a traditional high lapel or collar grip, Kirill Denisov’s first aim is to catch the power arm.

Once he’s done this he takes a cross lapel grip.

Before feeding the lapel into his left hand.

He then starts putting pressure on his opponent by pushing ...

Once Denisov is in charge of the lapel he fights for his favoured sleeve grip.

He likes to pin his opponent’s sleeve, whilst tucking his elbow into the side of his stomach.

This unique body position allows him gripping dominance, whilst conserving energy in his right arm.

After catching the op...

Kirill Denisov’s lapel feed is the starting point to his most effective gripping sequence against opposite stance opponents.

Competing at the very highest level in international judo for over ten years, the lapel feed was a regular technique Denisov successfully employed.

Occasionally he would ...